Imperfect, beautiful and brave.

Released
July
31st,
2017

LEONARD COHEN.

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in."

-from Anthem, by Leonard Cohen

In the beginning, we sought perfection. We tried to flatten curves, sand away knots, conceal any grain that dared to stand out. Natural meant imperfect: wood had to be disciplined and nature had to be restrained. Don’t-stand-out-ness was our goal, because we sought the perfect offering.

And the wood fought back.

We spent a lot of time trying to turn what was unique in our wood into something more standard, trying to cover up the unexpected so that it looked more like everything else. Our idea of beauty was uniformity and sameness.

And the wood fought back.

We tried to tame Nature because we were blind. Blind to the unexpected, blind to the unique, blind to the cracks through which the light could get in. Once upon a time, we were blind to beauty.

Today we see magic in imperfection. We believe that seeing beauty where others don’t is a form of bravery. We love a good knot, a deep crack, a wild grain that stands out –beautiful imperfections guide our designs, so that the wood itself decides what it will become: functional art.

This is Artemano, and our magic is not for everyone. It is for you, the brave ones "who know that there is a crack, a crack in everything…that's how the light gets in."